Category: Movies

2009’s Most Disturbing Film Is A Documentary

You might have already heard about The Cove. Described by one critic as “Flipper meets the Bourne Identity,” it’s a compelling marriage of edge-of-your-seat infiltration/espionage and more traditional documentary storytelling, all in the service of exposing the bloody secret of one small town in Japan, where every year in a secluded cove tens of thousands of dolphins are rounded up in nets and harpooned to death, their meat repackaged as other kinds of seafood and sold in supermarkets across Japan. I saw the film a few weeks ago and it quite honestly gave me nightmares.

mental_floss Blog

Meanwhile —

Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”.

Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence.

The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each year.

Times Online

Dude Studies

“The Big Lebowski” has spawned its own shaggy, fervid world: drinking games, Halloween costumes, bumper stickers (“This aggression will not stand, man”) and a drunken annual festival that took root in Louisville, Ky., and has spread to other cities. The movie is also the subject of an expanding shelf of books, including “The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers” and the forthcoming “The Tao of the Dude.”

‘The Big Lebowski’ and Its Dude Get the Academic Treatment

The Dude abides. I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that.

The best films of 2009

Roger Ebert picks the top films.

The lists are divided into Mainstream Films and Independent Films. This neatly sidesteps two frequent complaints: (1) “You name all those little films most people have never heard of,” and (2) “You pick all blockbusters and ignore the indie pictures.” Which is is my official Top Ten? They both are equal, and every film here is entitled to name itself “One of the Year’s 10 Best!”

Oh, and Ebert says, “a probable Oscar-winning performance by Jeff Bridges.”

Redux post of the day

First posted here last year.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

A fascinating look at It’s a Wonderful Life.

Best Movie of the Oughts

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the critics’ choice so far.

Slate has an interactive guide to the best movies of the decade. It tracks the critics’ lists and assigns points. Sort of like the BCS rankings, and just as useful.

[I use Ought in the title to amuse myself. I see the term from time-to-time in these decade wrap-ups, but I scarcely saw it used during the actual decade. Which brings to mind another question, is 2010 part of the “Teens”?]

Walt Disney

… died of lung cancer on this date in 1966. He was 65.

Mickey.gifThe Walt Disney Family Museum formerly provided in-depth background.

Was Walt frozen?

No researcher has discovered where this myth began, but it certainly is widespread. Quite the opposite, Walt’s daughter Diane recalls that her father spoke frequently about his desire to be cremated — and in fact he was. When Disney archivist Robert Tieman researched the issue, he discovered that the first attempts at freezing a person weren’t even discussed until after Walt’s death. In any case, the people who knew Walt and loved him never heard him utter a word about trying it out himself. What’s more, his family lingered around him for some time after his death. No white-smocked physicians rushed his body off to some kind of freezing chamber as would undoubtedly have been the case if he was being preserved.

Idle thought

At the theater to see Julie and Julia yesterday afternoon, the crowd was — well, let’s just say there were a lot of senior discounts. And it was about 65-35 female to male.

At showtime, when the trailers were supposed to begin, the screen just froze. We all (it was fairly full) sat and chatted and waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually people started getting restless. Donna said she’d call and started looking for the number. Presently a woman to the left in our same row got up to go tell someone.

Time for NewMexiKen to swing into action. I opened the Fandango app on my iPhone, touched Theaters, selected the theater we were in (which the GPS knew), and touched the phone number. The phone connected to the theater and I told them there was a problem.

That took so little time that the brave volunteer woman was not even to the exit. I announced the theater knew there was a problem. She or someone asked how I knew they knew. I held up my phone and said, “Hey, it’s 2009.”

It was interesting that then, knowing the problem would be attended to, the crowd collectively relaxed. The woman in front of me suggested to all that we talk about health care.

Fortunately the first of the seven — yes seven — trailers began and we didn’t have to beat anyone up.

And the movie was terrific.

John Huston

John Huston, the director, writer and actor, was born on this date in 1906. Huston received five Oscar nominations for direction, eight for writing and one each for acting and best picture. He won for best direction and writing for Treasure of the Sierra Madre in 1949.

Among his other films are The Maltese Falcon, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Prizzi’s Honor, Moby Dick and Moulin Rouge.

Huston cast his father Walter in Treasure of the Sierra Madre and his daughter Anjelica in Prizzi’s Honor. Both won Academy Awards.

John Huston played the title role in The Cardinal, his acting Oscar nomination, and the vile father of the Faye Dunaway character in Chinatown.

Marilyn Monroe

… was found dead on this date in 1962. She was 36.

According to Joe DiMaggio biographer Richard Ben Cramer, after Monroe’s marriage to Arthur Miller had ended, she and DiMaggio had reconciled — the Kennedys notwithstanding. By 1962 they planned to re-marry. The wedding was set for Wednesday, August 8, 1962. Very private, very hush-hush.

Five days before the wedding date, on Saturday night, August 3, Marilyn died, a presumed suicide. According to Cramer, no coroner’s inquest was held.

Monroe’s funeral was August 8, 1962.

Of course, Bobby Kennedy was in Los Angeles at the time of Marilyn’s death, so maybe …

Roger Ebert’s on greatest movie lists

All lists of the “greatest” movies are propaganda. They have no deeper significance. It is useless to debate them. Even more useless to quarrel with their ordering of titles: Why is this film #11 and that one only #31? The most interesting lists are those by one person: What are Scorsese’s favorites, or Herzog’s? The least interesting are those by large-scale voting, for example by IMDb or movie magazines.

Roger Ebert’s Journal

Ebert continues about lists and discusses the 50 essential films ranking just published by The Spectator. “[Y]ou won’t find Casablanca (1942), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962) anywhere among these pages.” The Spectator’s 50 Essential Films: Part One and The Spectator’s 50 Essential Films: Part Two.

Their top film is The Night of the Hunter.

Rio Bravo, the 1959 film with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson and Walter Brennan, is number 10.

Air Force One

No, not that Air Force one, the movie Air Force One. I watched it tonight because it was only 99¢ on Apple TV.

Fantastic film. No, not fantastically good. Fantastically stupid.

No wonder it was 99¢.

Sunday stuff

Saw the Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino last night. A very good film. Eastwood does cranky old man just as well as he did tough cop and enigmatic western hero.

The Apple App Store has Peggle on sale through today for 99¢. It’s a fun arcade game. I’ve never been much of a video game player, but do enjoy them on the iPhone/iPod. Paper Toss is another great time waster, and it’s free.

A brief squall here this morning. Thunderstorms in June? In the morning? What is this planet coming to? Looks like some 90-degree days headed our way, though. I guess I’d better fire up the cooler — haven’t needed it yet this year.

I see we’ve gotten through the switch to digital TV without people taking to the streets with torches. It’s getting more and more difficult for ANY change to come about in our society without it being turned into the apocalypse.

FiveThirtyEight projects that Obama would win 445 electoral votes if an election were held today. The projection is based on his popularity, awarding the president states where he has 50% approval or better.

Alas, as Frank Rich writes, “A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country.”

The Taking of The Taking of Pelham 123

Attention moviegoers: The people at Columbia Pictures would like to clear something up. Apparently there’s a rumor going around that Tony Scott’s new film, The Taking of Pelham 123, is a remake of Joseph Sargent’s 1974 movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. This is false. Scott’s film is an adaptation of John Godey’s 1973 pulp novel, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (on which Sargent’s movie was also based). This is plainly stated in the film’s opening credits. Are we clear?

It’s easy to imagine why Pelham’s producers wouldn’t want Scott’s professional but dull picture to be compared with the 1974 classic.

John Swansburg has a review at Slate Magazine

You go see the new movie if you want. I intend to watch the classic with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw.